Born as Ronald Taylor, he changed his artistic name when applying for the Screen Actors Guild because it was already taken by another Star Trek actor. The name is intended to be ironic, considering he is 7 feet (2.13 meters) tall and a former professional basketball player. [1]

With his large size, Ron has been cast as hulking henchmen in a number of movies. Perhaps his best known film role is the hulking Nazi assassin Lothar in the comic adaptation The Rocketeer (1991), which co-starred William O. Campbell, Paul Sorvino, Terry O'Quinn, Ed Lauter, Clint Howard, and Max Grodénchik. Ron also appeared briefly out of prosthetics as a different character in the same movie.